[pf] What mainstream media don't tell us about the Iran elections

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 23:43:43 +1300
From: Ian Burn <.-.-.@actrix.gen.nz>
Subject: [GN]Green Party of Iran and the Iranian elections

What they don't tell us in the mainstream media, even in New Zealand.

Ian

-----Original Message-----
From:    green@iran-e-sabz.org 
Sent:    Thursday, February 24, 2000 3:12 PM
To:      Ian Burn
Subject: Green Party of Iran and the Iranian elections

Ian Burn
International Secretary
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Dear Mr. Burn,

We would like to thank the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand for their
encouragement and support. You asked us about our perspective on last
week's Iranian elections . Although we were happy to see many people voting
freely, we believe that the elections were fundamentaly undemocratic for
the following reasons: 

        1. The absolute power in Iran continues to be held by Ayatolla 
Khamenei
and his Guardian Council. 
        2. The Guardian Council rejected over 500 potential candidates (out 
of
about 6000) for trivial reasons (for example, not being religious enough). 
        3. Non-islamic political groups are illegal in Iran. (There is one
'opposition' party in Iran called the Iranian National Party, however its
leaders, Dariush and Parvaneh Foruhar, were murdered by the Intelligence
ministry last year, and every one of its candidates for this election were
rejected by the Guardian Council.)

The western press has writen extensively about the infighting between the
'conservative' and the 'reformer' camps in Iran. We believe that while the
reformers seem more progressive, they are made from the same mold as the
conservatives. They are all part of the same clerical elite. In fact, many
voters seem to know this and are only choosing the reformers as the best of
two evils. For example, we read one quote (from AFP) by a young man who
said, " I don't support the reformers, but I'm voting for them because I
don't want the conservatives to be in power". 

You asked us how we fared in the elections. We are an illegal party in Iran
so we could not participate in them if we had wanted to. We are a party in
exile and have members around the world. Two weeks after we had announced
our formation, the regime's official news agency announced the formation of
an Islamic Green Party of Iran. It seems that this party ran in the
elections as part of the conservative coallition. We do not know their
results. In fact, our contacts in Iran were unsuccessful in finding any
information about this party (candidates names, offices, etc...). 

Thank you again for your interest. I hope we answered your questions and
look forward to hearing from you again.

Kayvan Kaboli
Green Party of Iran


At 10:39 PM 22/02/00 +1300, you wrote:
>Dear Sir/Madam
>
>we would be very interested here in New Zealand to hear you perspective on
the recent elections - and in particular how you fared in them.  I look
forward to hearing from you.
>
>Ian Burn
>
>International Secretary - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
sent on by David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3142/Pg1-AD11.html
 or better: http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/
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